24 March 2008

My MacBook Pro is infested with a virus -- or some sort of malware; I can't quite figure it out. The browsers (Safari and Firefox) periodically get hijacked. I'll try to load a common site (say this one, or Google) and get involuntarily redirected to some site which purports to provide traffic tracking services or the like.

I called Apple Care and they thought I have a virus, so I shelled out some cash for McAfee's VirusScan, scanned the drive, and found nothing.

The hijacking is frustratingly intermittent, which of course makes it harder to diagnose.

14 comments:

They are no less vulnerable than PCs, not in theory anyway. They don't get infected because the viruses are generally written for PCs, and because there are not usually enough macs out there for them to spread effectively.

Sadly, as they become more popular, this benefit becomes eroded.

I'm not sure that I actually have a virus per se, maybe just a cookie or some malicious bit of code on a web site I visited. It's just weird, actually.

You've already run AdAware and SpyBot or various other "mongoose to the virus's snake" programs, right?

I seem to recall things like McAfee being better at preventing viruses and not so good at dealing with them once they've gotten in, or at dealing with non-viral nasties... but the likelihood of me talking out my ass right now is pretty high.

The funny thing of course is that you probably wouldn't have that issue with Vista. The Vista security model, jokes aside is just about the most sophisticated around (2nd only to OpenBSD, but it's the most sophisticated that is still easy enough for an MD to use).

Be smug all you want...when my Vista machine got infected (because I didn't check a file I downloaded) it took me all of 30 minutes to get it fixed - by downloading another (free) antivirus program and running it.

Not sitting in front of my Mac right now (work makes me use Windoze) so I can't remember the exact steps for it, but make sure you've cleared your cache for both browsers. There are a couple of spring cleaning-type programs out there (check versiontracker.com) that will do this if you can't get the browsers to do it themselves.

Some adware and spyware use Javascript, which can hijack Macs. Usually they just blow annoying webpages in your face, but they are pernicious and slow down your system.

There was a version of Java that was more vulnerable, so it has improved. The problem is whenever Java is updated the older version still stays on the computer. I have to remove the older version myself.

As if you're not getting enough advice, but I would direct you to (another) free virus scan application, Avast (http://avast.com/) which has kept me happily virus free for a couple years now. (Disclaimer - happily virus free since a friend of mine went to work for them).

Shadowfax

About me: I am an ER physician and administrator living in the Pacific Northwest. I live with my wife and four kids. Various other interests include Shorin-ryu karate, general aviation, Irish music, Apple computers, and progressive politics. My kids do their best to ensure that I have little time to pursue these hobbies.

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